Most of our knowledge of what people wore in 8th century Ireland comes from the illustrations in books such as the Book of Kells and from the figure sculptures on the 8th century stone crosses. These show that men women and children were all dressed in either a knee length, or ankle length, léine or tunic and that they wore a long cloak (just a rectangular piece of material) pinned with one or two brooches at the shoulders. The cloaks were very brightly coloured and were woven from different shades of wool, mostly purple, red or green. Shoes were made from one piece of leather sewn across the top.
Read & Write
1 (Chap 5) What was Sorcha wearing on the night of her betrothal to Conan?
2 (chap. 6) What colour was Columba's new tunic?
3 (Chap. 6) What was used to dye the tunic blue?
4 (Chap. 6) What was woad?
5 (Chap. 7) What sort of cloak did the man who killed Honey and Jarlath wear?
Draw...!
Draw a picture of the brooches that pinned Sorcha's cloak at the shoulders. Colour the precious jewels.
Explore...!
Imagine that you are an artist who has been asked to illustrate a book on 8th century Ireland. See if you can find The Book of Kells or a book of 8th century stone crosses. Make your own drawings of the clothes
Imagine......!
Make a list of people at an 8th century feast. Try to give them names of people that would have been around in that time. Write down what each one of them was wearing.
Imagine that you are a weaver. You want to make a beautiful cloak. Describe how you make the cloak, what dyes you use to colour the wool and how you weave it.
